Sync and backup
Your data lives on your device first.
Every app keeps its own data on your computer, so most keep working without a connection. Sync is an optional layer on top: turn it on and your devices keep each other up to date, with data encrypted before it leaves.
- Local first
- Apps read and write a database on your device, so they stay fast and keep your data if you ever stop syncing. Whether an app works offline depends on the app: a job that needs the internet still needs it.
- Encrypted before it leavesOpens with accounts
- Changes are encrypted on your device, with a separate key for each app. Our servers store data they cannot read.
- Changes, not whole filesOpens with accounts
- A device sends each change as it happens and the others apply it to their own copy. Your database files are never uploaded.
When two devices disagree
Nothing you wrote is thrown away.
Edit the same thing on a laptop and a phone while one is offline, and sync has to choose. OwnWeb’s rules are written down, and the same on every device.
The rules
- For records and settings, the most recent edit wins, field by field. Changing a due date on one device and a title on another keeps both.
- Long text such as a note or a document is never silently overwritten. The other version is kept as a conflicted copy you can compare.
- If one device edits a record that another deleted, the edit wins and the record comes back.
- An edit saved on a device is kept until the cloud confirms it has it.
History and recovery
Go back to how it was.
Sync keeps earlier versions for a while, so a mistake on one device does not become a mistake everywhere.
- Version historyOpens with accounts
- Restore an app’s data to an earlier point: 7 days back on the Free plan, 30 days on paid plans.
- A recovery keyOpens with accounts
- Because we cannot read your data, we cannot reset it for you. You save a recovery key when you turn sync on; it is how you get back in if you lose every device.
- If you turn sync offOpens with accounts
- There is a 30-day grace period, then the cloud copy is deleted. The copies on your devices stay exactly as they are.
Lose every device and the recovery key, and the cloud copy cannot be opened by anyone, including us. That is the cost of encryption we cannot bypass.
Without the cloud
Back up and move, no account needed.
You do not need sync to protect your data or move to a new computer. OwnWeb can pack what you choose into an encrypted file, or send it straight to another device on the same network.
- Encrypted backups
- Export chosen data, such as bookmarks, your Library and app data, into one encrypted file you keep wherever you like.
- Device-to-device transfer
- Move your data to another computer over your own network, without it passing through our servers.
- Per-app export
- Apps export their own data in ordinary formats such as CSV, Markdown and PDF.
- Restore
- Bring a backup back into a profile and carry on.
Sharing
Spaces for the people you work and live with.
A space is a set of data with its own members. Your personal space is yours alone. A family or a team space is shared, and each has its own storage.
- FamilyOpens with accounts
- Shared lists, budgets and calendars for up to six people, with pooled storage.
- TeamsOpens with accounts
- A shared space for a small business. An admin adds and removes members; there is one bill.
- Leaving a spaceOpens with accounts
- When someone leaves, their access ends. The space’s data stays with the space, and their personal data stays theirs.
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